Hunters and Collectors
by Kira699
Summary: A multiple homicide starts Sara, Cath and Sofia on a dangerous road. Can the team save them before anyone dies? Hope the story is better than the summary.
1. Chapter 1

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N In no way does this have anything to do with the band.**

**It includes Sara, Catherine, Sofia, a little Grissom and a few others, as for ships, you'll have to wait and see.**

**Does contain some graphic images, but nothing out of the CSI ordinary. **

Chapter 1

It was August, it was hot, it was night time, and worst of all, it was raining heavily.

Sara and Catherine had been called to a violent domestic scene and were due to meet Sofia there as the Detective in charge of the scene. Everything seemed pretty straightforward in all of that, but what they found would make the most hardened cop on the force puke.

"Has the scene been secured?" Sofia asked the senior officer at the scene.

"No ma'am, none of the officers could go inside and not throw up so we decided to secure the perimeter and wait for you to arrive with some back up."

"Fine then Officer Mitchell and Dylan can clear the main floor, I'll take the upstairs, if you want to heave, hold it." Sofia had no time for queasy officers in a potentially dangerous situation.

Sara and Catherine waited outside whilst Sofia entered the nightmarish house to secure it. She was dumbfounded at the blood everywhere. The house had been trashed, the husband was lying in a pool of his own blood, his head severed and set up on the mantle above the fireplace. Blood sprayed around the walls and blood trails led upstairs.

While the officers cleared the first floor, finding every room trashed, Sofia cautiously headed upstairs knowing full well that if anyone was still on scene, her being on the stairs was her most vulnerable position. Her gut instinct told her that someone was up there, waiting for someone to intrude upon them. She had to play it cautiously, but she asked herself, 'how cautiously can one climb a staircase without being a sitting duck'.

She reached the second top step and froze, her back to the wall. There was someone up there as she suspected. She waited the lifted her foot to move up to the top and found herself confronted by a person dressed in black aiming a gun at her head. Her own gun aimed at the intruder as well, it was a potential stand off until someone moved. Sofia moved first and ducked her head, loosing off a shot in the direction of the intruder who in turn fired back.

Sofia felt the hot piercing pain of the bullet then felt her body shatter as she fell out of control down the staircase until she reached the bottom where she lay bleeding and unconscious. The killer at the top of the stairs was also down and bleeding but very much conscious and taking steps to find a way out of the house.

The alleged killer didn't get very far, Mitchell and Dylan ran up the stairs after him and cornered him on an alcove balcony. They arrested him and took him down stairs to the paramedics.

Sara and Catherine ran into see Sofia crumpled up at the base of the stairs, immediately they called in the paramedics. The bullet had gone straight through her stomach and she needed help immediately. Gut shots are a slow and painful way to die, although Sofia was feeling no pain with all the injuries sustained falling down the stairs. Being unconscious does help in this regard.

The paramedics did what they could but time of the essence now, IVs were set up, oxygen mask applied, a compression bandage put over packing in her bullet wound and bandaged her head, the rest could be done en route. She had a broken right leg, left arm, two broken ribs on her right side and a severe head wound all to go along with the gun shot wound. Things didn't look good for her but she was alive for now.

Catherine's first instincts were correct in assessing the situation. They now had two crime scenes combined into one. They needed help out here so calling Grissom was her first priority.

"Grissom."

"Grissom, it's Cath, we need more people down here, the scene wasn't secure and shot securing it, Sara and I can process the primary scene but Sofia's scene needs other hands as well."

"Ok I'm sending out Nick and Greg, are you and Sara saf

"Should be now, there are several uniforms around and the perp was arrested after being shot."

"Ok call me if you need anything else."

Catherine closed her phone and picked up her kit. "Come on Sara, time to process the primary scene, Nick and Greg are coming out for the secondary.

Catherine and Sara took their time downstairs, photographing everything, swabbing the walls, the pool of blood and everything around the periphery of the body until the coroner arrived. Sara moved into the kitchen to see blood everywhere in there as well. Pots and pans on the floor, cutlery and crockery strewn about the place and one body, that of the wife, her head smashed in and flattened like a pancake. Cast off from repeated blows to her head decorated the walls and every appliance in the kitchen but as yet she hadn't found the weapon in all this bloodied mess. Once more she took detailed pictures with her camera, swabbed the blood pools and walls. She did notice a void in the blood spatter, probably where the killer stood. Looking around the room she noticed one thing out of place, a bloodied implement inconsistent with all other blood spatter markings. It was a marble rolling pin discarded amongst the strewn cutlery, she bagged it.

Next step was to proceed upstairs, Catherine was still processing downstairs.

"Cath, I'm done with the kitchen until David comes, got one possible murder weapon but I'm going upstairs now ok?"

"Ok Sara, I haven't found any weapon down here yet but I'll process the other downstairs rooms."

Sara went up to the bedrooms, 4 bedrooms, a bathroom and an alcove to the balcony were on this level. That meant kids or lots of guest bedrooms, she hoped it was the latter. It wasn't.

In each room the contents were trashed, the parents room was clear of blood but the other bedrooms each had one small body in it, throat slashed in one case, multiple stab wounds and cast off in another and the last left Sara gasping for air as though she would vomit. A samurai sword plunged down through the stomach of the small child, pinning it to the bed.

"Catherine, I think I just found the other murder weapon up here."

"Good Sara, bag it then so we can check it later."

"That's gonna be bit hard right now, I'll need help and David."

"Sidle if you keep yelling in riddles I'll kill you myself, hold on then I'm coming up."

**A/N So what is Sara on about really, more to the point, how does a person manage to kill two adults plus sleeping kids without any warning? Answer in the next chapter, maybe. If you're good. **

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N In no way does this have anything to do with the band.**

**It includes Sara, Catherine, Sofia, a little Grissom and a few others, as for ships, you'll have to wait and see.**

**Sara, being Sara, always has theories about things. This time is no exception, however she may end up regretting this one.**

Chapter 2

Catherine was curious as to what Sara meant and quickly, but carefully made her way up the wide stairway to where Sara was and was sickened at the sight.

"Yes well I can certainly see why you'd need help with this, waiting for David is a good idea."

Catherine noticed that Sara's face was now as white as a sheet, she knew she hated cases that involved children and decided to get Sara outside for some air while waiting for the coroner to arrive.

"Come on Sara, take a break outside with me for a bit, we'll wait for David outside and get some air."

The rain had let up momentarily as she led Sara outside, where the brunette promptly ran into the bushes beside the fence and threw up then just stood there shaking violently. All Catherine could do was hold her up and get her some water, there were no words that could be said, they had both seen it, both understood each others position and neither of them wanted to go back in there but it was their job and their professionalism wouldn't allow anyone else to take over for them, thus putting someone else through that horror.

"I'm going to call Jim and see how Sofia is doing Sara, you going to be ok for a bit?"

"Yeah I'll be fine, just let me know too ok, if that guy they caught did all those things I'd like to personally kill him, slowly."

"Ok I'll help you hide the body," she grinned as she flipped open her phone.

"Jim it's Catherine, any news on Sofia? Oh that's not good, she'll make it though won't she? Well that's one small blessing, but she's strong Jim, better call her mother though, we'll be in as soon as we are done here." She closed her phone and turned to Sara.

"Sofia is alive but still critical, flat lined twice in the ambulance, and twice in surgery, they say she has a 50/50 chance of survival but the longer she hangs in there, the better her odds. We'll head in there after we've dropped everything off at the lab. You right to continue now?"

"Yeah we have a job to do and looks like David is here so let's get to work."

Greg and Nick drove up behind the coroner's van and got out their kits. "Hear you ladies need a little bit of help on this one," grinned Greg in his usual way.

"Greg, this time we need help because Sofia was shot and you get to process her scene but it is in the middle of the main scene, so you'll have to work around us, first rule, do not go upstairs without asking us first. Then we may get you to give us some help with the rest of the house. Nick can you take the perimeter of the house, neither of us has had time for that yet, Greg you do the base of the stairs, then come up and into the alcove following a blood trail."

Both men nodded and got to work. David came in and checked both husband and wife's temp for TOD then allowed the CSIs to move the bodies for further evidence. Sara was clicking away madly with the camera taking shots of the turned bodies.

"How on earth did this guy manage to do all this damage without anyone hearing or calling for help?" Sara asked to no one in particular.

"Any theories Sara?"

"None come to mind right now, I can't see how it happened, kids undisturbed, father decapitated, mother bludgeoned, kids stabbed and no one seemed to have known. Unless…."

"Ok I'd know that Sidle 'mind in gear and thinking of ways' look anywhere, what are you thinking?"

"Drugged. It's the only thing that makes sense, I mean there are no defensive wounds on any of the vics, put that together with everyone's placement and you get two potential types of drugging, food which I doubt as it was past any meal time or possibly something airborne. I'm heading down to the basement where the air conditioning system for the ducts should be. Back shortly."

Sara headed off down to the basement leaving a stunned Catherine waiting and wondering at her colleagues thought processes. Sara may have hit the nail on the head but still there was work to be done and David came back for the mother and the same routine started over. "David when you get them back to the lab, check their blood for any drug content, Sara thinks they may have been drugged prior to all this."

"Sure, where is Sara, upstairs yet?"

"No she's checking the basement for any toxins or drug introduced into the air conditioning system."

Which indeed was what she was doing, slowly but surely she was dismantling the system looking for ways of introduction. Everything seemed pretty much fine, filter a little dirty but clean otherwise, the whole unit looked clean, busting her theory. Then she looked at the pump, a small box was attached to the side of it, it wasn't a unit she was familiar with and so undid the screws holding it on. The residual compressed air left in the pump blew out into the room quickly and carried with it a white vapour, not quite odourless, it had a smell of onions. The small box, containing a small explosive charge that hadn't exploded due to the air pressure, she had been working on slammed heavily into her forehead leaving a deep gash. The last thought through Sara's mind when she passed out on the floor, at least she was right. '_Brilliant Sidle you proved your point by knocking yourself out, way to go.'_

Catherine was getting worried, she knew Sara could take care of herself, in a secure house as well. David had taken the mother and father away and was coming back for the kids, That was 20 minutes ago, surely Sara would have said something by now. She decided to check on her colleague, even though she knew Sara would hate being 'checked up on' by anyone.

"Hey Sara how are doing down there, find anything?"

Silence greeted her question, this didn't sound good, actually it didn't sound of anything. A faint odour touched her nostrils, she knew that smell, thiopentone and nitrous oxide, the smell of onions. She knew then what had happened and called Nick and Greg.

"Guys I need your help in the basement, grab some gasmasks and some oxygen and follow me. I swear this case gets weirder by the minute."

The three of them gingerly went down the basement steps, gasmasks on, Nick carrying the small oxygen cylinder with attached mask, and spied Sara lying face down inches from the air conditioner pump, a small pool of blood by her head.

**A/N Ah that wonderful smell of anaesthetic gas, well Sara did need some sleep anyway, not so sure she needed the headache as well though. **

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	3. Chapter 3

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Looks like Sara can't handle her anaesthetic very well, but at least none of our stars are dead so far.**

Chapter 3

"She guessed correctly, now let's get her out of here, Nick, oxygen on her first then we'll check her neck, Greg run up and get a cervical collar from the paramedics and tell them why, bring it back down here, those guys can't come in here it will compromise the entire scene so it's up to us."

Greg was back in a flash with the collar which he placed gently around Sara's neck, Nick placed the oxygen mask on her face and turned on the life giving gas. Catherine gently turned her over onto her side and waited for the oxygen to take effect, placing a gauze plaster on her forehead gash.

Sara slowly opened her eyes and stared groggily around at blurry faces.

"Let me sleep some more, it's not time to get up yet, come back in an hour," she slurred.

"She really is out of it Cath," replied Nick, "wonder what else she might say if we give her some ideas."

"Let's get her to her feet and see what that does."

Together they lifted Sara to her feet and tried to get her to stand but it wasn't going to work. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she was out again.

"No time to lose now, it's not just the drug, she has a concussion as well I think, let's get her up to the ambulance guys, they can take it from here."

Between the three of them they carried Sara out to the ambulance and let the paramedics treat her and slowly she regained consciousness but had trouble speaking, she felt drunk and not in control of her own body, a feeling she hated.

"Don't even think about taking me to hospital guys, I'm not going, I'm fine and I have a job to do here," she slurred angrily.

"Sara, David is back, Nick and Greg are here and we can finish up, now go and get yourself checked out or I'll have Grissom take you off this case right now."

"You wouldn't, would you Cath?"

"For now yes, now get to hospital and you can check on Sofia as well, Grissom is there as well, he'll be expecting you. I called him to let him know you were on your way in," she lied.

"Thanks Cath, but I still owe you one, you know I hate those places."

"Just go, no more whining, you would do the same thing in my place, and you know it."

Sara shut up and let the ambulance drive her to hospital. Catherine called Grissom, who was actually at the hospital for the bullet from Sofia.

"Grissom it's Cath, Sara is on her way in, in an ambulance. No she's ok and found out how the job was done but got herself knocked out when the attachment to the pump blew up in her face, concussion and thiopentone gas don't mix too well. I told her I'd already phoned you and you'd be waiting for her."

"Ok Cath, need any more help out there? I feel like I'm running out of CSIs here. Good news is, Sofia is looking better and her odds have increased, the shooter is in surgery and her clothes are all bagged ready for the lab and we'll have the bullet soon."

"Her clothes?"

"Yeah surprise, the shooter or killer is a woman, we are still waiting on an ID though, I'll catch up with you later, keep me informed."

Catherine, Nick and Greg worked swiftly upstairs once David had removed the bodies of the three children, the last one was the worst, it was a combined effort to remove the sword from both bed and child without damaging the scene but it was accomplished. Everyone felt sick to their stomachs but they knew that at least no one would have felt anything due to the gas. The last murder weapon was a knife from the kitchen, used to slash one child's throat and stab another. That in itself was curious, why use three murder weapons? They'd have their answer once they found out who owned the sword.

In the master bedroom was a huge walk in wardrobe which in turn led to another room, Greg walked in and let out a low whistle. Decorating the walls was a large private collection of swords and knives, it would a museum curator faint with excitement if they were all real. Civil War Cavalry Sabres, Japanese Samurai Swords, Royal Navy Officer's Swords and Dirks, British Army Swords from various time periods, broadswords, cutlasses, even German Military Swords, all were represented here either in authentic form or replicas. One item was obviously missing due to a bare space on the hooks in the Japanese collection. The murder weapon was taken from here. It all started to make sense and began a sequence of murders. They could now piece together part of the puzzle.

The room was dusted for prints, few were found although one seemed out of place just by looking closely at it, it was radically different from the others. The killer's print perhaps.

Theories ran rampant, Catherine's pet theory was that the husband was a collector and the killer was also and had been outbid on something she really wanted, so she killed him. If that were true, why not take the item, spare the kids and leave. Bah nothing made sense now, two people down so far tonight and still nothing was making sense.

Detective Vartann entered the premises to find Catherine with some news.

"Catherine can I borrow a CSI off you for a moment? One of my officers found a car a few blocks down, he ran the plates and it comes back to a woman who lives on the other side of Vegas. She is also a rather wealthy woman so something doesn't quite sit right having that car over here. When we heard that the shooter of Sofia was a woman, well you know, 2 and 2, best to check things out."

"Sure Lou, I'll do it myself, I'll let Nick and Greg know." She flashed that patented Willows smile at him and went to find Greg and Nick.

She let the boys know where she was going and a grin flashed across their faces in a 'have fun' look that was greeted with a 'death glare' back at them. Was it so obvious?

She drove with Lou a few blocks to the car and started processing the exterior of the car, a flashy 57 Mercedes gull wing.

"Pop the doors and the trunk guys, carefully, don't scratch this beauty."

Prints were lifted off the steering wheel, the glove compartment contained a SIG Sauer P232 380 handgun, the same model as Catherine's own weapon. If the weapon were registered it should give an ID to the killer if it was the same person. Inside the trunk was a different but more incriminating story. Small gas cylinders and other equipment was found all printed, boxed, bagged, tagged and the car itself was towed back to the lab. Nearly everything here was done.

**A/N Oh dear the shooter was a woman, one with a Mercedes Gullwing too, where does that leave everyone. Do you want any more of this one? Or should I hang up my keyboard now, before it gets really interesting.**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N We shall learn more in this chapter, about our perps and how poor Sofia is doing.**

Chapter 4

Arriving back at the house, Greg and Nick were finishing up and had evidence bags strewn everywhere.

"Ok boys load em up and let's get these back to the lab, then we can go and see how Sara and Sofia are, make sure we get those prints run first."

All the evidence was logged in and sent to DNA, Trace, Ballistics and Prints. Now the waiting game was played. Greg, Nick and Catherine all headed over to the hospital for updates on their two downed colleagues, hoping to hear some good news, although they pretty much knew Sara would fine apart from a headache. Sofia, on the other hand, they didn't know much about her condition and had to wait until a doctor came and informed them all. Captain Curtis, Sofia's mother, was with the others in the waiting room when they arrived, she was putting on a brave face but her eyes gave her away, the grief and fear in them. The doctor then came out for Sofia's family.

"Captain Curtis? If you'll come with me I'd like to discuss your daughter's condition in less public area."

"Is it something secret doctor? If not you can tell us all at the same time, saves me repeating to everyone here."

"Very well then, Sofia's injuries from falling down the stairs were pretty much repairable, mostly a few broken bones, the main problem is the bullet wound. It was a clean wound but due to the fall it travelled and is now lodged near her spine, it isn't affecting her mobility or anything, but if it moves any closer it could do one of two things. Paralyze her or kill her. We need to keep her as immobile as possible now until she is recovered enough to attempt to remove it, that is with your permission."

Captain Curtis didn't know which way to look nor what to say, she didn't have the knowledge or desire to make an uninformed decision.

"Tell me doctor, do you have a specialist to perform this operation, and how soon could it be done?"

" Dr Terrance Bishop is on staff and on standby , a specialist in this field, with Captain Curtis' permission we can do the operation as soon as she is stable enough."

Everyone sat there stunned at the thought of Sofia dying when she was so close to being alright, she simply had to make it but they could only think of wishing her well for now. Their next stop was seeing Sara, who was probably doing her best to make life difficult for all hospital staff.

Grissom was the first to poke his nose around her door to see her sitting up in bed looking cranky, he simply grinned at her.

"I hear someone on my team is malingering and trying to get some sick days off," he teased.

"Grissom, if you don't get me out of here I'll kill someone other than myself, I'm not sick, just a bump on the head."

"That plus a concussion and suffering from an anaesthetic gas that put you out for hours once it took full effect. Nice bandage on your head too by the way, honey you have to stop taking risks like that."

"How the hell was I to know the pump would blow up in my face, or more specifically that stupid box attached to it, anyway it didn't explode really the air pressure blew back into it, tearing it apart, but at least I was right about the method used."

"Well now we have an ID on Sofia's shooter at least, one Nicola Fremont, rather classy woman, freelance collector and auctioneer of antiques, specifically military weapons. She is or was very successful in locating items and auctioning them with her getting a sizable percentage of the sale. I think now we know how she 'finds' her items. I'm working on the theory that she sells them, kills the buyers then resells them. As they are in private collections and not museums, some would not even be listed, ideal candidates for 'repossession'."

"It doesn't all add up though Griss, why drug the household then kill everyone including the kids when you could simply take what you wanted, maybe kill the main collector, but hell, why the kids?"

"We'll ask her when she wakes up, or would you like to interrogate her?"

"Perhaps both of us, I'd probably kill her, however one thing isn't right, how did she rig the air conditioner, and why use three murder weapons. Perhaps she had an accomplice or two."

"If she had an accomplice then this could get dangerous Sara, especially if they've already killed before, they wouldn't hesitate to kill again."

"One nearly killed Sofia, I nearly get my fool head blown off and 5 people are already dead. There is no option, danger or not, than to go after them."

"Fair enough but just remember, we only follow the evidence, we leave the muscle to the cops. No heroics."

Sara got his meaning and was discharged the same day and ready to get back into the swing of things, interrogating Nicola Fremont with Grissom and Brass was her first appointment. Fremont did not look too happy when they entered her hospital room, her left hand handcuffed to the bed and a guard outside her door. Brass started the questioning to see where it would lead.

"Nicola Fremont my name is Brass, these others are CSI Grissom and CSI Sidle, so far we have enough evidence to charge you for 5 counts of murder, 2 counts of attempted murder, and no doubt that will be accompanied by several counts of fraud as well. It will get you the death penalty unless you can tell something different."

"So that cop is still alive is she? She shouldn't have been so nosy, but I see my little trick bagged me a CSI eh? Guess your head hurts a bit honey?" she said with an oily grin, showing no sign of remorse.

Sara couldn't resist the next question.

"I can probably understand the husband and wife, but why kill the children? Why deprive three innocents of a future, of a life?"

"Innocents? Humbug. They weren't innocents, they were going to turn out like their parents, tough as nails, uncaring, living for the almighty dollar and selling out everyone they knew or loved."

"So you admit to killing everyone?"

"No I won't admit to something I didn't do, I honestly didn't kill the kids or the husband, just the wife and before you ask, yes I rigged the airconditioner. Unfortunately it didn't go off like it was supposed to, it was supposed to go off earlier and take the house with it, but I miscalculated the time and small explosive charge, that's why I came back, to fix that small problem."

"So you had an accomplice then? Would you like to give me his or her name?"

Fremont went deathly pale.

"I can't do that, they'd kill me if I did, I was just the facilitator of this, they organized it, planned it, executed it, if I tell you who they are I'm dead."

**A/N I'm not sure I believe everything she says, do you? She seemed to being trying to do executing of her own. Stay tuned for more later. Don't worry it's gets a bit creepier and deadlier as the story goes on.**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Ok I'll let you read this without any of my smart comments, but we'll reveal the nature of the assailants here.**

Chapter 5

There was no doubt in their minds that Nicola Fremont was scared of what her accomplices could or would do now that she was in custody. Now they just had to find them, but how many of 'them' were there, were they male or female? How dangerous were they? They would kill Nicola, but would they kill anyone else who got in their way? All these questions were unanswered and she refused to answer them.

-/-

"Damn, damn, damn!" swore the disgruntled man.

"What the hell are you swearing for now George, you know she won't squeal on us, she'd rather die first, besides she's my sister and I should know. We just have to find a way to get her out of there ," replied the young woman gruffly.

"Heather, sister or not she's becoming a liability, she didn't even get the sword for us, so now the police have it, we are down one person and our little set up has come to an end. We have two choices, three if you're not squeamish."

"Squeamish? No George don't go there, we are not abandoning or killing my sister, we need her back so we can set up somewhere else."

"Nah, don't worry, I wasn't talking about killing Nic, just something else so that we can get her back, but it involves getting into that hospital."

"I'm listening most intently, you have a cunning plan don't you."

They talked some more as he outlined their plan, to be sure it was a good plan at first glance, if they'd known who they were up against though, perhaps they would have turned themselves in first. An awful lot depended on luck, if only Nicola hadn't shot that cop, the world was full of ifs and buts.

-/-

Sara felt optimistic when she went to see Sofia in the hospital the next day, the doctors had said she was now almost stable enough to have her back surgery and remove the bullet, which was of course excellent news. What she didn't see at first was a new nurse and doctor heading towards Nicola Fremont's room.

George and Heather had walked confidently down the corridors of the hospital looking as though they really worked there and had located Nicola's room without difficulty, mainly because it was the only one with two police officers in front of it, one male, one female. George was prepared for this, on his belt he carried a Ruger Kel-Tec P-32 mousegun .32 ACP, a very small concealable handgun. He came up to the two officers and starkly pointed the weapon at one of them.

"Into the room without fuss and no one gets hurt, my partner will relieve you of your equipment, try or say anything and you won't live to regret it."

The two officers complied readily as neither wanted to get shot or worse.

"Heather, handcuff them together, hands behind them, right wrist to right wrist and left to left as we planned then unlock Nic grab the cuffs and we'll try to head out without anyone stopping us."

Officer Norman Fletcher had to try something even though he was securely bound to his partner Officer Eva Rogers.

"You won't get far, there are police all over this hospital especially since she shot one of them."

"I thought I told you not to say anything."

George quickly made him regret saying it by pistol whipping him across the face and knocking him out, his body slumped sideways taking his partner down with him.

Nicola was pleased to see them and winced as she climbed down into the wheelchair and readied herself for the great escape.

"You guys are the greatest, I had them worried that you were going to kill me if I said anything so they left, but I daresay they'll be back to try again."

"Can't leave my big sister in hospital or jail now can I? How about we get out of here and head for Canada?"

-/-

Something was nagging at Sara's mind, she'd been in to see Sofia and they hadn't operated on her yet but that wasn't it. Something about two people heading towards their suspect's room had her curious and concerned, no one except the designated doctors and nurses were allowed there and those two were not on the list, of that she was sure. Sara being Sara decided to investigate, she whispered her suspicions to Sofia as a goodbye for now and headed off to Nicola's room.

She arrived at the room to find the two officers on the floor, one bleeding badly from a head wound, and she dialed Brass and hit the nurse call button.

"Help is on it's way guys, I have to follow them."

"We understand Sara, just go get them and hurry, Nicola is in a wheel chair and the guy named George is armed, the woman named Heather has both of our weapons and one set of cuffs, Norm has a hard head on him and I'm fine."

She took the stairs two at a time racing down to the parking lot, police were on their way but if she couldn't delay them it would be too late. She burst through the doors to the parking lot in time to see two of them helping the third into a large sedan, she ran towards it with her Glock in her hand.

"Hold it, you aren't going anywhere."

George was fuming, this woman was going to ruin his plans.

"What do you plan to do about it girlie? Shoot me? I'm unarmed, like to see you get away with that one."

"Oh I know you are armed George, so is Heather, so either get down on your knees now or I'll shoot you where you stand."

One shot rang out, echoing through the parking lot, everyone looked bewildered as to where it came from. Only Nicola knew where it came from, she was holding the smoking gun in her hand and smiling evilly.

"Let's get out of here guys."

"Nic did you just…shoot a cop?"

"She's no cop, just a nosy CSI bitch, no loss if she's dead."

"And if she's not dead? Then what?"

"Then I'll finish her off, end of story."

Heather piped up with an idea.

"If she's not dead, check, maybe with her as a hostage we can really get out of here, no one would dare stop us."

Sara had felt a sharp burning pain smashing through her right shoulder, her gun falling useless to the ground and she beside it, she tried to grip her weapon with her left hand and aim but nothing was focusing clearly and she definitely was not used to firing it left handed. Her head was aching, a left over from the concussion earlier, and this extra pain did not help in the slightest. She saw them walking towards her and tried to reach for her gun but her right arm would not allow any support and she just lay there gasping in pain, waiting for the inevitable end.

'_Come on Sidle, this isn't the way to go out, not passively waiting to be shot, not on some dirty parking lot floor, if you want your dream, fight for it_.'

**A/N Oh dear, cliffie perhaps? Ah well what is a story without one? So options are, dead Sara, police arriving in time, or hostage Sara.**

**I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Due to mixed reception with reviews, one for and one against killing off Sara, I'll only say that I came to a conclusion. But hopefully none of you will be disappointed.**

Chapter 6

God knows she tried, she managed to finally reach her gun and drag it to her left hand, agonizingly slowly, and had managed to raise it up only to have it kicked out of her hand savagely and removed from her possession. She was then faced with two people, the ones named Heather and George, both pointing guns at her, she didn't dare move again.

"Finally you have decided to see reason Ms Sidle," George said, reading her name off her vest, "now we can get better acquainted because I need you as insurance, I would have preferred the blonde that Nic was talking about, but you'll do. Heather if you don't mind, she'll need some help standing then we can get out of here."

Heather helped Sara stand up, although she was shaky on her feet, quickly taking out the cuffs previously worn by Nicola and cuffing both wrists behind her back. The wound in her shoulder started bleeding more profusely and the pain getting worse due to the awkward position. Heather went through Sara's pockets, removing her cell phone and wallet.

"I think I just found us a nice place to stay tonight George, Nic can rest up before we head north."

She read out Sara's address before placing her pain wracked body into the trunk of the sedan and driving carefully off to Sara's own apartment, missing the police cars by mere seconds. They'd had a stroke of luck and this was genius, no one would think to look for a missing CSI in her own apartment. Or would they?

-/-

Jim Brass had gotten the call and called all available units to the area to block off the roads and all other exits, Jim himself had gone to the room and found the two officers, released them and had Fletcher tended to, Rogers was tripping over her tongue apologizing but was stopped when Jim raised his hand.

"Eva don't apologize for something you couldn't prevent, this is a hospital, it's quite common to see doctors and nurses around and I certainly would rather see you two alive than have to explain to your families how you died."

"Captain Brass, Sara came in and raised the alarm then she bolted out of the room talking about delaying them until you got here, or should I say, down there to the parking lot, we've heard nothing since. What's happening?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll find out, right now I want you with a sketch artist then go home and rest, I'll keep you updated and involved personally ok?"

"Thanks Captain Brass, it's appreciated."

Jim hurried down to the parking lot to find Catherine there already.

"What do we have here Catherine? Looks like things got messy."

"Messy is one word for it but I'd almost say bordering on tragic. Sara's ID, one gun, probably hers, her wallet minus driver's licence and her cell phone. Makes me worried about the blood here, there's quite a bit and her weapon hasn't been fired. Leads me to only one conclusion, she's hurt and probably being used as a hostage. They are escalating Jim and not worried about who gets hurt as long as they get away."

Concern filled her face and voice but still she did her job, swabbing the blood, bagging the weapon, wallet, ID and cell phone to check for prints. She also got hold of the parking lot security camera footage for Archie to work on then went to cross check connections to Nicola Fremont. Two came back.

"Heather Fremont, her younger sister, and George Ross, no relation but priors for fraud and burglary. Neither of them had a history of violence but when something gets out of hand, violence becomes the cowards way out." Catherine was really talking to herself and the computer but when Grissom came and heard her he had an idea.

"What's the latest news Cath?"

"Archie is going to page me with anything from the security footage, as will the others when they get the results back, but for now we are proceeding on the assumption that Sara was taken as a hostage and is hurt, all we need to know now is where. Why take her driver's licence Grissom?"

"What details does it have on it apart from her name?" he replied thinking what seemed to him to be the obvious answers.

"Her age, and address, oh god why didn't I see that earlier, it would be a really stupid move but it's possible that they all went to her apartment to hole up for the night while we are out chasing our tails."

"I'll call Brass and get him over there now, we could also be wrong but exploring all options helps."

Catherine's pager went off several times, the results were back and not encouraging. The blood proved to be Sara's and Archie had graphic blow by blow footage of the entire parking lot scene. It made both Catherine and Grissom cringe when they watched Sara being shot and thrown into the trunk, they were now on a race against time, to stop her bleeding to death.

Heather and George were smart, they had figured out that going directly to Sara's apartment would get them caught so they waited, out of sight, the car parked a few blocks away in an alley to wait for the police to show up and sweep the apartment. Once it was cleared and checked it would be safe for them to use.

Sara felt claustrophobic in the car trunk, she was trapped, bleeding, in pain and not a damn thing she could do about it, she tried moving around but that only hurt more and the tyre lever dug into her side. To make matters worse they had put her in on her right, injured side, and now she was lying in her own blood, passing out every so often only to reawaken in the same nightmare.

Eventually they came and dragged her limp form out of the trunk, releasing her hands to avoid nosy neighbours, they'd think she was just drunk and friends were helping her home.

"Welcome home Sara, for tonight at least, hope you have some food in here because we are starving and take out is not really an option."

"Shit, rabbit food, soy milk, eggs and cheese, please don't tell me you are a vegetarian." George groaned.

"Ok I won't, but I am, guess you should have chosen someone with a more gourmet taste in food," replied Sara sarcastically.

Heather slapped her across the face after that remark not caring if she lived or died, they were all hungry for real food and Sara's larder and fridge didn't not show much in the way of appetizing ingredients.

"Oh cut it out you guys, leave her be, if we don't do something about her shoulder she'll bleed to death and we won't have any hostage at all," was all Nicola could remark.

"Yeah Nic, but perhaps after tonight we won't need one, they know our faces, probably know the car as well off the parking lot tape, I'd say ditch this weird bitch and hightail it north, fast, unless you want to head south."

"Ok so maybe we don't need her, what's next George, you want to kill her? Or maybe just leave her here to die, they've checked this place already so they won't be back anytime soon."

"Hey great idea Nic, that way we aren't killing her, we just rip out the phone line leave her here all neatly packaged for the morgue."

Sara didn't like where any of this was heading, since bringing her into her own apartment they had recuffed her and she was now sitting on one of her own kitchen chairs, at least she knew her own apartment better than they did.

'_Ok Sidle, you know where all the skeletons are in this place, you only have to get these cuffs off and you're home free, oh yeah the cuffs, hmmmm_.'

**A/N Seems she might only have that one small problem if they leave her like that, the next question is….will they? They are now hungry and desperate. What would you do in their place?**

**I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: standard one, I don't CSI or any of their characters. Only some new characters are mine and I'm not nice to them.**

**Thanks for the reviews hopefully this will gather more.**

Chapter 7.

"No luck at her apartment Gil, they weren't there, no sign of the car, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that it was a ruse to get looking elsewhere."

"Possibly Jim, but put yourself in their shoes, you have a relatively safe address after it has been searched, you watch from a distance until the police leave. It is then safe to use, would you still use it?"

"Hell yeah, why not, who would think of searching twice in the same place? We'll go back in an hour to give them time to get settled in and set up electronic equipment next door."

"This case really has gotten weird, three killers who started out with fraud and burglary, now Sofia is down but after successful surgery is going to be fine, we have enough evidence to convict all three but can't move until Sara is safe. When we go back I'll have the EMTs ready and waiting Gil."

"I'm coming with you Jim, you'll need a CSI on scene, don't worry I'll bring Greg, but I need to be there."

-/-

Back at the hospital, Sofia was awake, alert and very much alarmed at the latest news about her friend Sara, although it really didn't surprise her that Sara would go hurtling off into the night to catch bad guys. Her mother was sitting beside her.

"I don't know how many times I've told her Mom, she's a CSI and I'm the detective, I go in first and she comes in when it's clear, maybe now she'll learn."

"I know honey but this was something she had to do, she did call for back up and only followed them down. She was armed and tried to delay them until the police got there, apparently missing by mere seconds."

"That's not the point, she shouldn't have been in that situation to start with, they should have predicted that someone might try something, had officers in the parking lot, I don't know. Now from what I've heard she's badly hurt somewhere and we don't know where."

"Ok then as a former CSI, wrap your head around this one. They took her driver's licence so had her address, the police searched her apartment and found nothing. Any ideas?"

"That's easy Mom, I'm surprised you'd even ask it, you know the answer as well as I do. Firstly they'd watch the apartment to make sure it was searched before entering it. Police search done, apartment safe."

"Ok Sherlock what's next, since so far you are batting 1000."

"They move in and probably get mad at Sara for only having rabbit food in her fridge, the rest depends on her condition as to whether they kill her, leave her there or take her with them."

"Apparently she has lost a lot of blood, possibly too much."

"In my shoes, she wouldn't be worth the extended effort, I'd leave her in her apartment with no phone line but just restrained, she can't do anything, can't call out and would probably just die. God Mom I hate it when you do that, and thinking like that about a friend makes me feel worse."

"No just makes you a good detective honey, now get some sleep. I'm going to see Brass."

Captain Curtis phoned Brass and passed on what Sofia had said, which then made time of the essence, time Sara might not have.

-/-

Sara was running out of time and the girls wanted to be out of there and gone. George had other ideas, he wanted this CSI bitch to suffer some more and if he got the chance he'd take on that beautiful blonde too, but he didn't think he'd get the chance so this pretty brunette would have to do.

"Sara Sidle, today is a good day for you to die, at least for me anyway. Before we leave you here I'll let you in on a little secret. I wielded the sword that killed that man and kid, Heather used the knife and Nic, well she didn't want to, but finally found she enjoyed bludgeoning that woman to death. It's amazing what you can make people enjoy. As for you, you don't get off so easy, yours will be slow and painful, I could cut you up some but that would only make it faster. I'll just add a few bruises to your collection."

Sara's coherent thoughts registered that she was already dead if she didn't try something so she kicked out at him, hearing him grunt in pain after her painful kick to his shin.

"Heather get in here, and bring something to restrain this bitch's legs before she kicks me again. Nic go and prepare the trunk, we are leaving."

Heather brought in strips of a torn up sheet and tied Sara's ankles together, stuffed more material into her mouth and secured it tightly, too tightly, with more cloth strips. Together they carried and dragged Sara into her bedroom where George kicked her hard in the ribcage several times, making her want to vomit but she bit down on that thought.

Sara stared in horror at their meaning of 'trunk', she had assumed they meant the car trunk, she was wrong. She struggled furiously and futilely, cursing the day she ever bought it. It was a great storage trunk for blankets and clothes but not for people, it was too small, too enclosed.

Surprisingly enough she squeezed into it, terror on her face as George looked down at her grinning.

"I hope you don't get claustrophobia Sara, enjoy your death although maybe your friends will find you in time."

He shut the lid and heard a faint, muffled screaming from inside, he was satisfied. Nicola was downstairs cleaning everything they had used, cleaning any blood from surfaces and getting ready to depart after having a last meal and emptying Sara's fridge into a cooler from her cupboard.

"Road trip," she announced with a smile, "finished play time George dear?"

"Yes, she's terrified in her box, let's hit the road."

Sara re gathered her hysterical thoughts and made sense of them, she tried using her head to push the top of the box open only to find something blocking it, the catch on the outside never used to engage without a lock so that meant one of two things. Someone sitting on it, or they'd locked it. No one was sitting on it. She started screaming again until she hyperventilated and passed out.

The police and CSI arrived at the apartment for the second time that night, burst in to find…..nothing once more. Grissom and Greg weren't willing to give up that easily, using the ASL they checked everywhere and found cleaned up blood and followed a small blood trail to Sara's bedroom, Apart from the stripped off sheets they found nothing out of place.

**TBC**

**A/N Poor Sara, Gil can look all he wants, he won't find her as he isn't familiar with her apartment (yet).**

**I do appreciate reviews if you have the time and all advice, encouragement and criticisms are taken into consideration.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Sorry but I couldn't kill off Sara, doesn't mean that I can't come close though.**

Chapter 8

"Anything Gil? Or have they left?"

"Looks like they left Jim, but they were here and cleaned up after them, something is off in this room but I can't pinpoint it, I'm not overly familiar with it, do we have anyone who is closer to Sara, or at least has been in her apartment at all?"

"Only Sofia, she stayed with Sara for a few days a while back when she was injured on the job, I'll call her."

Sofia was surprised to kept in the loop this much, but it pleased her to be able to help a friend who had helped her when she needed it.

"Hey Jim what do you need?"

"Grissom says something is off in Sara's bedroom but he can't pinpoint it, it's just a feeling he has."

"Get him to describe it to me."

Handing Grissom the phone, Jim let him describe in detail the entire room.

"Dresser, 6 drawers, nothing seems disturbed, bed sheets stripped off and torn up, presumably for restraints of opportunity, nightstands, equally undisturbed, forensics magazines on them, drapes closed, closet open, clothing strewn everywhere, blankets and sheets tossed everywhere, steamer trunk padlocked shut so I can't check it, window closed…"

"Wait Grissom, go back one, steamer trunk, she never locks it, it's never had a lock, the catch won't engage without one. She keeps her blankets and sheets in it. Oh Christ Grissom, get that damned thing open and hurry."

Just then the nurse came into Sofia's room and quite categorically told her to get off the phone, it was getting her too agitated and sending her blood pressure too high.

"If you know what's good for you nurse, you'll get the hell out of here before I have you arrested, I'm trying to save someone's life here."

"Jim get me some bolt cutters quickly and get the EMTs up here now." He knew how Sara hated small dark spaces.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, a young police officer arrived with the bolt cutters and Grissom took hold of the lock while the young man clipped the lock off. Wrenching the lid off, the sight of Sara bound and gagged in that small space made his heart break, she wasn't conscious, she was barely breathing. Before lifting her out he removed the gag to allow her more air, Brass used his key to remove the handcuffs which were covered in blood from her shoulder wound and from cutting into her wrists, her ankles were left bound for now until she was out and Grissom could cut it off with his scissors.

All that mattered now was that she lived, and kept living, hopefully with him in her life. He privately thanked God for Sofia's curiosity and her powers of observation.

The EMTs managed to get her out of the trunk and start an IV, set up oxygen and discovered her broken ribs, now this had to be done with care and with a backboard.

"Mr Grissom we'll need your help to get her on the backboard, if you can lift her legs my partner will raise her torso so as not to disturb her ribs too much."

This they did and wheeled her outside to the waiting ambulance, Grissom of course went with her leaving Greg to finish off in the apartment but with assistance on the way in the form of Catherine.

Bruising and broken ribs were not new to Sara Sidle but gunshot wounds were still something of a novelty, if it could be called that, thankfully when she finally regained consciousness she was not in a small dark space but in a large white room with some glass panels and she could see her colleagues hovering outside in the corridor, Grissom was sitting beside her bed holding her hand.

'_Looks like you aren't dead yet Sidle'_

"Hey Grissom, you aren't hovering like a knight in shining armour are you?"

"Hi honey, sorry but you owe your thanks to someone else, it's hard to know what to look for in someone else's bedroom. Thankfully Sofia did so you are here because of her quick thinking."

"Isn't she still in hospital though?"

"That's true but they invented this wonderful thing called a telephone, I'll tell you all about it later."

Her expression changed from a grin to a frown abruptly.

"Have they been caught yet? George told me who did what and how he'd love to get his hands on the pretty blonde CSI, so if they haven't left the state, Catherine may or may not be in danger, where is she?" 

"She's with Greg processing your place, but I'll get Brass over there to check on things, I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Yeah, probably me over analyzing a problem again."

"Can you tell me everything you remember from that night Sara?"

"Most of it you know Grissom, otherwise you wouldn't have found me, but they hated the idea of me being vegetarian, no 'real food' as they put it, for them to eat so Heather slapped me around a bit. George said he wanted to add to my bruises so I kicked him hard somewhere and Heather then tied my ankles together and they carried me upstairs and dumped me that hell hole. I don't know how long I was in there, I lost track of time and thankfully I must have passed out. I do know I was screaming but couldn't catch my breath. How did you know I was in there anyway?"

"Like I said before, it was Sofia really, I only thought something felt off in your room, I described everything to Sofia and she figured it out, the rest was easy. Did they say anything to indicate where they might go?"

"They were torn between Canada or Mexico, they settled on Canada, but I have a feeling that they are still in Vegas, unfinished business, hence why I'm worried about Cath."

"Ok honey, I'll head back to the lab with all of this and be back later, we'll get them, Vegas isn't that big."

-/-

Nicola, Heather and George had stayed in Vegas, as Sara predicted, although only George really wanted to stay. He still wanted the pretty blonde CSI and it is very hard to reason when a man like that thinks with something other than his brain. His crimes had never escalated to murder before, let alone rape, but now he had nothing to lose except his freedom so rape was a no contest, it was less than murder and he'd killed enough for the death penalty anyway.

**A/N Well Sara is safe, although traumatized a bit, but it now appears that George has set his sights elsewhere, on Catherine.**

**I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Another ride on the rollercoaster with the team, who is next?**

Chapter 8

Through the grapevine they had learned that CSI Sidle had survived and was now in hospital spilling everything she knew, everything they had discussed in front of her, that made their life more difficult but they enjoyed a challenge, it's what they did best. They worked out a new plan, one with a two fold outcome if it worked. It started with the household of Sir Charles Banister, the second son of the Earl of Carnarvon. He had a lot of valuable military memorabilia dating back to before the Boer War, even to Nelson and Elizabethan times. It was worth a small fortune but only a few items were kept in his Vegas home, the rest were more or less on permanent loan to the British Museum. The small items were what attracted the terrible trio to his abode.

-/-

Grissom called everyone into the breakroom, all minus Sara of course who was still in hospital, and gave out some assignments. "Catherine, you and Nick a B&E at a Mansion in Seven Hills. Sir Charles Banister, high profile case, military artefacts stolen and yes I know it sounds like you know who, so be careful. The rest of you still press on with what we've already got. Cath, meet Brass out there, he and Vartann should be on hand."

"Ok Grissom, we'll be careful and with Lou around we should be fine," Nick winked at Catherine who grinned.

The trip out to the crime scene was uneventful and some nice music played on the radio until they were nearly there. Nick, who was driving, was trying hard to maintain a serious face but was failing badly and smirked. "So Cath, what's with you and Lou Vartann?"

"Now Nick that would be telling, besides there isn't really anything 'with' us at all, we are just becoming good friends."

"Yeah right, tell that to Greg, he'd believe it but this is me and I know something is in the air."

"Alright, but it doesn't go further than here ok? We are occasionally seeing each other outside of work, no funny business, just drinks and dinner and so far that's it."

"Fair enough, as long as he isn't hovering over you at the crime scene too much to give you both away," Nick laughed at the remark he made and earned a scowl from Catherine.

Their expressions suddenly changed from laughter to horror as a truck blindsided the SUV on the drivers side and pushed it off the road.

Nick's door exploded into his side and all airbags deployed saving Catherine and Nick from head injuries. The occupants of the truck got out and immediately ran to the passenger side door and extricated Catherine from the SUV. "Get Nick out please, he's hurt, I'm fine."

"Good to hear Ms Willows, but you are the one we want. Heather get her into the truck and let's get out of here. Nic please do the honour of restraining Ms Willows, we don't want her 'getting hurt' any more than she already is, at least not yet."

"My pleasure George," replied Nicola, getting some rope from the large tool chest.

Catherine tried to fight Nicola off but ended up getting a fist in her jaw for her troubles then found herself having her wrists tightly tied behind her back then her ankles tied together. She was helpless with these three murderers, and scared, especially because she knew what they had done to Sara and Sofia. She hoped Nick would be alright, he hadn't looked very good covered in blood from the accident.

Nick was frantic, he had managed to reach the radio for help but the pain from his side was not allowing coherent thought, the dispatcher tried to understand him but wasn't getting far. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Brass.

"Brass here."

"Jim…Nick…car accident…off the road…five miles from you, Cath taken, help."

"Ok Nick slow down, are you hurt?"

"Yes Jim, but they've taken Cath, hurry please….."

Jim didn't get any more response from Nick and jumped in his car calling for back up and paramedics to Nick's scene, next he called Grissom and asked for a CSI to attend as well. Grissom was sending himself as the only free CSI.

A crowd had begun to gather at the accident site and two men were trying to help Nick out of the car, unsuccessfully, another had a fire extinguisher already in use under the hood. Fire trucks, ambulances and police cars rapidly descended upon the scene and did their respective jobs, the police keeping gawking sightseers well back, the paramedics treating Nick in the car and the firemen working on extricating him from the wreck and keeping fuel away from any heat source. The man with the extinguisher was congratulated by the fire chief for his quick thinking, but the two men who tried to get Nick out could have killed him if they had succeeded. A piece of the door frame had punctured his side and was still attached to the door, removing it would have left Nick to bleed out quickly.

The piece of doorframe was quickly hacked off with a pair of heavy duty cutters and then he was eased onto a backboard, a cervical collar placed gently around his neck, the piece of doorframe bandaged in place, an IV started as well as oxygen then gently they got the backboard up onto the gurney and into the ambulance.

Grissom arrived to see the ambulance speed off and Brass came up to him to fill him in.

"Nick is in the ambulance, stable but with a piece of door frame puncturing his left side, Catherine was abducted from the scene, taken right out of the vehicle under Nick's nose. We know who by, what we don't know is why or where. All we have to go on is vehicle, which was a truck, colour unknown but that's where you come in, anything you can get off here will be crucial.

Grissom set to work finding trace from paint transfer, and two more things, the logo imprint from the truck in the driver's door and lower down a partial plate imprint. How could he get this lucky.

"Jim it's Grissom, you are not going to believe this, the truck left so many imprints, they may as well have left it behind. It was a Mitsubishi, white, Nevada plates, partial containing an L, J and a 4."

"Righto Gil, I'll have it run and put out an APB on it, there won't be many of that make in Vegas."

Brass was quite correct, there were in fact only five in Vegas, all in use apart from one. It was stolen from a truck lot the day before, the owner Terry Donovan was almost apoplectic when confronted by the police that his van was used in a criminal offence. His entire livelihood was in that truck, it was used for just about anything, small freight, removals, deliveries, now he had nothing but at least his truck was insured and the police report would ensure he had something to fall back on.

**A/N Uh Oh another robbery and now Cath is gone and poor Nick in hospital (he really should take driving lessons). Say ever noticed how when Cath is paired up with Lou Vartann something always seems to happen to her? This time she didn't even get near him.**

**I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N What happens next then? Is anyone interested?**

Chapter 10

Sara and Sofia were both well rested and totally bored stiff with being in hospital but the nursing staff had decided that the best way to keep them happy was to have them both in the same room together, at least then they could bore each other. Sara was still stiff and sore from the repaired bullet wound and her healing ribs whilst Sofia was still nursing bruises and other breaks from her unexpected fall down the stairs.

"Ya know Sof, I never got around to saying thanks, I owe you big time for saving my life."

"No big deal Sara, but I'll collect later," she smiled," now is not a good time for collecting anything, you owe Grissom too, I just wish we could get out of here and go home but we have to wait until we are healed up better. This silence of information is beginning to get to me. What is going on with the case? Neither Cath nor Grissom have been in, and Nick is conspicuous by his absence, and he normally the first here.

The door opened at that moment and Greg walked in, looking flustered and afraid.

"Ok Greg you never could hide your emotions, so what's going on that you look like a scared rabbit?" asked Sara.

"Well, umm, Nick is in surgery, his car was run off the road and….."he didn't know how to continue.

"Ok Greg, I think I can guess the rest, but you have to say it."

"Catherine was taken out of the vehicle, she was abducted and we don't know where she is."

"I could have a pretty good guess, have you tried her place?" Sara asked him slowly.

"Yes we've been there, nothing, even been there twice since and still nothing."

"Alright Greg, these guys are devious but they always slip up, where did they slip up this time?"

"When they hit Nick's SUV we got enough off the transfer to ID the vehicle used, but it hasn't been found yet."

"Ok here's an idea for you, tell me if you think I'm wrong Sofia, I want you to drive the streets around Cath's place, in an outward spiral, unmarked car too, take Vartann with you. That truck must be in that area. Have you checked for any properties connected with the trio or their families?"

"I think you may be right Sara, they could be in a back alley, or three blocks away, but no further than about 3 miles or the nearest warehouse, find that and you find them and Cath."

Greg brightened up at the idea, yelled his thanks and vanished, he had something important to do, and Lou Vartann would help for sure.

-/-

Catherine was lying on a cold concrete floor, the air around her smelt musty and dusty, her jaw hurt and she felt the whiplash from the accident. Her first thoughts were for Nick, but realized that he was beyond her help, she herself needed help. That guy George was implying certain things, things that she really didn't like. In the meantime she struggled to free herself, without success, and waited, there was nothing else she could do. Then she heard a sound, the door was being unlocked and opened, she tensed for what was to come next.

"How now my pretty Catherine, such a cold hard surface for one as pretty as you, you deserve a palace with a lovely large feather bed, however being where we are right now that is not possible, soon though, very soon." George smirked and crouched down beside her, running his hands over every inch of her body, stopping to grope her breasts then sliding one hand between her legs, if she wasn't scared before she was now. When he tried to kiss her she turned her head away and received a slap across the face before he grasped her chin and mashed his lips to hers, his odour wasn't one of a usual rapist, stale cigarettes and booze, more of a masculine smell, but still stale breath.

"We are going to move you upstairs for a little bit Catherine, you'll be more comfortable for a while, but I'll warn you now, we are not averse to violence, the girls especially, so watch your tongue and your behaviour."

With that he untied her ankles and wrenched her up to her feet, half dragging her out of the cold room, funnily enough that's exactly what it was she realized, a cool room. Up the stairs Heather and Nicola frowned at her as they sat around eating a microwaved pizza, George leading her into another room that had a bed in it. George had decided he'd be the nice badguy, the girls could be the nasty ones, he had another thing to concentrate on.

He threw Catherine onto the bed with only one thought, a primal thought, in mind. He removed her shoes and socks after something of a struggle with her, then unbuttoned her slacks and pulled them down, revealing black lacy panties. He flipped her onto her stomach and ran his hands over her half naked body, her attempted screams cut off, drowned by her face pushed into the mattress, he then flipped her back over. She tried to fight back but having her hands tied behind her placed her at a serious disadvantage but she did manage to kick him which only made him madder than he was. He slapped her a few times and tied her ankles to each bed post, a most uncomfortable position lying as she was on her bound arms. George was running on almost pure adrenaline now, he tore Catherine's shirt off with his hands, used his knife to cut her black lacy bra off then bit deep into her left breast causing her to scream in pain.

"You are far too noisy Ms Willows, but we'll fix that now." He briefly got off her and left the room, coming back with a roll of duct tape, cut a large piece off and slapped it over her mouth, denying her the chance to make any noise.

"Now Ms Willows we can continue in peace and quiet, and trust me you will enjoy this." He unzipped his pants and took them off, revealing his raging erection and he smiled at her. Her lacy panties were no obstacle to his teeth as he nipped, licked, pawed and bit his way up and down her body. He then drove himself inside her, her muscles tearing at his force, her screams and cries unheard due to the tape and he didn't let up until he was satisfied. Then as suddenly as he had forced himself upon her, he got dressed and left, leaving her in pain and bleeding. She couldn't believe it at first, a rapist with control problems but god did she hurt.

George went back to Heather and Nicola. "Save me any pizza girls?" "Only if you saved her for our tender mercies George."

"Sure Heather, she's all yours now, you can do what you want with her, she's only scrap now, but please, this time don't screw up, finish what you start. Kill her."

**A/N Ok I decided on a cliffie for this one. **

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	11. Chapter 11

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N What happens next then? Is anyone interested?**

Chapter 11

V

-/-

Vartann and Greg were doing their assigned circuits of the neighbourhood, without any luck so far, other patrol cars were also looking for the truck. Maybe Sara was wrong and they completely off base here when Greg remembered something.

"Hey Lou, remember that the truck was used for deliveries and stuff, the driver had said that it had a refrigerated section in it, which means deliveries to cool stores. There is one in this area, three streets down, I know it's a gamble but we have nothing to lose."

"Worth a look at any rate, if it gets us to Cath it's a bonus."

Silently they pulled up near the cool store and walked the rest of the way, Greg taking off his vest to remain unobtrusive. It seemed to fit the dubious pattern of them, right under the police noses, close to Catherine's home yet far enough away to avoid suspicion. A records check on the owner of the warehouse showed it belonging to the Fremont family until the business went broke five years ago. It had been abandoned since then.

"I don't think we'll get much closer without spooking them and the truck would have to be inside, we need miniature help," stated Greg, an idea running through his mind.

"What the hell is miniature help Greg?"

"Weren't you ever a kid Lou? It's really quite simple, kids with spray cans daubing the building while one peeks in through a window and takes pics with his cell phone. Anyone inside would just shoo the kids away and I can get a shot with my camera from up in that tree over there. See? Simple."

"Ok, all we need is kids, got a magic wand there Sanders?"

"Better, just let me make a phone call."

Greg phoned Grissom and outlined his plan, immediately he called for Lindsey and her friends who promptly presented themselves, dressed as street hooligans and armed with spray cans. Some of her 'friends' were not really the desirable type, some even had juvenile offences against them in the past, but all that was forgotten and mere thought of permission to graffiti with permission was too hard to resist.

"Lindsey, all of you, pay close attention to what I am about to say," Grissom said sternly, "this is very important, and you need to know why, but if you dare to do anything but follow orders I'll leave you here in a cell." Lindsey nodded, fear creeping into her eyes. "Greg will outline the plan for you to paint the walls and if you see a truck parked inside, take pictures with your cell phone and get lost if told to. If someone comes out to shoo you away, go and head away from Greg. The reason you guys are needed is because your Lindsey's mom could be in that building, what you do could put her in danger, follow orders and she'll be ok, if you try to go in, well that would be a big mistake for you and her. Do you still want to go?"

"Yes, we can handle it, the guys will keep me in line, and thanks for this Uncle Grissom, thanks for having faith in us. We'll get mom back."

The children's brigade were driven to near the scene for last minute instruction from Greg, then sent in to do their own thing, a novelty really, being asked to graffiti a building by the cops. Some of the school's best taggers were there, some were amateurs, they all knew the real reason and she paid close attention to the window, spraying around it and peeking through to see the front on view of a white truck. Her heart leapt to her throat, her mom was inside, was she alive? Dead? '_Concentrate Lindsey, take the blasted photographs and run' _ She snapped off a few pics and then heard a door opening and a gruff voice yelling at the 'young hooligans' to get the hell away. It was quick, it was smooth, it was flawless, the kids scattered in every direction eager not to get caught.

Greg was up in the tree with his camera zoomed in on the door and captured George on film, they had their proof.

Back at the lab, Lindsey's phone downloaded the truck pic to the lab computer and it matched, finally they had found them.

"Well done Lindsey, I was worried there for a bit."

"Yeah well, to be honest, I had second thoughts when I saw the truck, but the guys made me concentrate, besides I'm now a budding graffiti artist, with my own tag."

Grissom had to laugh, that was respect, your own tag recognized. Now they had the proof they had to send in the troops gently. If only he could have been a ninja warrior with the art of invisibility. Alas he was not so skilled so force it would have to be, and god help Catherine.

-/-

Catherine Willows was still alive, but Heather and Nicola were going to have some fun before they killed her, Nicola was now happy to beat someone to death, Heather was skilled with knives so they combined their forces, making sure to leave Catherine's face alone until the end.

Nicola used a baseball bat on her legs until she could hear bones breaking, Heather used and knife with a knuckle duster hilt punching heavily into the ribcage, slicing the bruising to let the blood flow, they untied her legs from the bedposts and dragged her body onto the floor where they kicked and hit her, her bound arms taking terrible punishment, her left one breaking in several places. Heather changed weapons to a long thin blade, rather like a rapier. She drove it through Catherine's shoulder joint and into the floor boards beneath her, pinning her like a butterfly to one of Grissom's display boards. She could feel the life force ebbing out of her, yet could say nothing, only grunt in pain, due to the damned tape on her mouth, her breathing now restricted by pressure on her lungs, broken ribs probably, and only having nostrils to breathe through. She was tired and wanted to sleep. It was fast and it was furious, she just waited for the death blow to fall, suddenly there was no more pain, just a creeping numbness. She knew she was dying and, if it made the pain go away, she was embracing death.

**A/N Ok I decided on a cliffie for this one. **

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	12. Chapter 12

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Will Catherine die or she already dead?**

Chapter 12

Jim Brass was on scene with SWAT, heavily armed police all wearing bullet proof vests, ambulance paramedics and the remains of the CSI team, which consisted of Grissom, Warrick and Greg. They intended to storm the building and work their way quickly and quietly through all rooms and the order to shoot to kill was given prior to entry. It was sanctioned as high up as the Governor. These three had taken down three colleagues and now a fourth, while a CSIs aren't cops, they wear a badge, a gun and help put away the bad guys, so they were all LVPD colleagues.

All police wore headsets for better communications, especially when clearing a room, then they only had to whisper 'clear' and move on rather than yell.

Entry had to be gained quietly and so the door's lock was picked expertly and the entire troop entered into the first level, the truck garage. It was cleared and the police split into groups to search each room and work upwards, quickly and quietly. They first came upon George, sitting and relaxing, enjoying some pizza and a beer. They got him from behind, alive, cuffed and silenced they dragged him out which was a pity as they all wanted to shoot him. Downstairs from there they found the cool room and some evidence that Catherine had been there, namely the rope from around her ankles. She was in the building then, and must be upstairs somewhere.

"Every man freeze and listen for sounds or voices," Brass' voice came over their headsets. They all stopped and listened and they heard it, laughter almost hysterical from over on the right, down the hall way.

"Prepare to shoot on sight when you get a good shot lined up, don't shoot the CSI."

The SWAT squad leader stood outside the door ready to go in, his squad with lazer sights aiming for a target. He whispered 'GO' and they broke through the door.

Heather and Nicola were both startled by the rapid intrusion and spun around looking at the door and were both met by bullets between their eyes. No words were spoken, only the squad leader declared the scene Code 4 but an urgent call to paramedics. "Right everyone outside with the exception of you Johnson, please tend to CSI Willows until the paramedics arrive." Johnson was the only female SWAT team member, she put down her weapon and knelt beside Catherine, who was now unconscious and bleeding from numerous cuts and wounds. Johnson took out her knife and cut the ropes binding Catherine's arms, and removed the tape from her mouth hearing a sharp intake of breath, apart from that all she could do is sit and hold her hand and talk to her, telling she was now safe, she'd soon be in hospital.

Next came the paramedics, at first not at all sure where to start, her pulse was incredibly weak, breathing was ragged and shallow, the rapier sticking out of her shoulder presented it's own problems, they couldn't remove it, yet it was too big to transport, plus it was pinning her to the floor. They had no choice but to pull it out forcibly, this they did and fortunately the wound didn't bleed too much. Things progressed quickly from there, legs were splinted, as was the arm, the bleeding wounds were packed and bandaged, other broken bones were left for now, she was intubated for easier breathing and all the time Johnson held her hand, reassuring the unconscious woman. Finally the paramedics finished as much as they could and loaded Catherine into the ambulance, a police escort surrounding it, it sped off to Desert Palm hospital. Time was against Catherine Willows, but she was still alive when they got her to hospital.

Grissom, Greg and Warrick processed the scenes, the truck itself proved to be a bonanza, all the looted artefacts from Sir Charles' place were in the back along with myriads of fingerprints from all three suspects and Catherine. The rest of the building especially the bedroom was like a horror house, blood everywhere, Catherine's blood. The team took what they could and waited for Super Dave to come and collect the two dead suspects. Slowly they wrapped up the evidence and retreated back to the lab, logged everything and headed to the hospital. Now Grissom had half his team down, Sofia down as well, although Sara and Sofia were due out of hospital and back to work in a week.

Nick's injuries weren't as bad as first thought, some surgery to his musculature and he'd be fine, his internal organs were all fine, he also seemed reluctant to stay in hospital but decided he'd play guardian over Catherine from his wheelchair. Her prognosis, unsure yet, she was still in surgery but at last reports she was still alive, that was the one shred of hope any of them had left. One nurse came out handing Grissom a rape kit which was duly dispatched to the lab via Greg, with an URGENT marked on it. Grissom made this top priority.

Eight long hours later a very tired looking surgeon appeared in the waiting room.

"Family of Catherine Willows?"

Lindsey and her grandmother stepped forward and indicated that the team were also regarded as family.

"Ms Willows is currently in a critical condition in ICU, the surgery was not without it's complications, three times she had to be revived, her list of injuries reads like a medical dictionary. Two fractures of both femurs, fractures to both tibia and fibula in both legs, 3 broken ribs on her left side, 2 on her right, fractures to left humerus and ulna, a dislocated shoulder wound involving a through puncture with a thin sharp blade, lots of other small cuts made with a blade and bruising all over, one punctured lung and a lacerated liver, finally some nasty bruising on her face, one black eye and one heavy hit to the back of the head, possibly from a boot or shoe. Currently she is in a coma and we don't know for sure when she will come out of it. Immediate family only may sit with her and talk to her, but she needs time to heal.

"Lindsey you should go in and sit with her, unless you need someone with you," said Grissom.

"I'd like you to be there Uncle Gil, but they said only immediate family."

"In that regard I think I can count since I'm your 'uncle' right now eh? Let's go see her together."

**A/N Poor Lindsey, at least her mom is alive. **

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	13. Chapter 13

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Catherine isn't looking so great right now and if she survives has a long road ahead, but the trick is getting her to survive first. Will she?**

Chapter 13

They walked into the ICU room and sat beside Catherine's bed, the parts of her that weren't bandaged were a rainbow of bruising, the tubes everywhere, an IV in one arm, a ventilator down her throat, a heart monitor, she was even catheterized. She looked as pale as one of the bodies on Al Robbins' morgue tables, and she was extremely fortunate that she wasn't there now.

"Hang in there mom, you'll get better, you have to, we have things to do together. Uncle Gil is looking out for me for a while as is grandma but I need you back home." Lindsey couldn't help herself anymore, the tears falling down her face unchecked.

"Come on LInds, let's get out of here for now and get you home and some rest, your mom will be fine here, she has the best care and the hospital will keep us notified." Grissom and Lindsey reluctantly left the room and headed to the waiting room. The remnants of the team were gathered there and surprisingly enough Sara and Sofia were also there having just been released from the hospital's clutches.

"She doesn't look fantastic guys, she taken quite a severe beating, Lily I think it's best if you take Lindsey home for a while, Catherine will be out for quite some time but tomorrow may be a better day. "

Lily agreed and left with Lindsey, leaving only the team left. Sara spoke first and voiced her concerns.

"How bad is she Grissom? Seriously."

"Whatever isn't broken is badly bruised or cut, a machine is breathing for her and it's way too early to tell if she'll ever come back to us, all we can do is hope and pray. Catherine has always been a strong woman, but after the hell they put her through, I just don't know any more. Nothing more we can do here for now so I suggest we all go see Nick and then get some rest."

It was like a forced march that they were on, leaving Catherine behind them to troop up to Nick's room, all with long drawn faces, fatigued or worried. No one bothered putting on a brave face for Nick, he had been vaguely informed of the situation so he knew it wasn't good news when they first entered his room.

Nick saw their faces and thought the worst. "Catherine?"

"She's alive Nick, but in a coma," replied Grissom. He went on to repeat everything he'd been told and Nick's jaw dropped.

"I think I can honestly say that I wish I'd been on that SWAT team to take down those bastards, but then most of you do too so it would have been a bit crowded. I just can't understand why though, it doesn't make any sense."

"We are also trying to make sense of it too Nick, we are hoping the remaining suspect will give us some information. We have him cold on several counts of murder, theft, fraud and now rape and attempted murder of a law enforcement official, so we'll see what Brass has when we get back."

"Ok Grissom, look you guys need sleep, and most definitely a shower so go home now, I'll be out of here in two days anyway."

With that they all muttered tired thanks and left for their respective homes, Sara leaving with Grissom and Sofia riding with Greg. Only one thing on their minds, sleep. And sleep they did, then showered, then ate. Not one single person found it odd that Sara had gone home with Grissom, they were all too tired to let it register.

Brass was tired too, he had been interrogating George for hours, showing him every shred of evidence they had against him and his co conspirators, the last part was the rape kit. He couldn't very well say she wanted it, then again she couldn't deny it so maybe it was worth a shot.

"Look Captain Brass, Catherine is a most unusual woman, I'm sure you will agree. Ok I'll even admit to kidnapping her, but only for use as a hostage, but well, we got a little closer and she seemed to like me, liked the thrill of the way we did things. Even as far wanting me to play rough with her, her only problem was that she had a reputation to maintain and I had those other two girls who were jealous. We had to be careful and Catherine knew it. So I suggested that if I tied her up and made it look like rape the girls would laugh it off, and her reputation would be intact, unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way. The girls got jealous anyway, tossed me out of there and said they'd kill her before I could replace them."

"You should have been a writer George, you spin a good yarn, none of which is particularly palatable nor believable."

"Can anyone disprove it?"

"Catherine should be able to soon, so I'll let you know."

"I heard she's in a coma and may never wake up, so that leaves only my statement and you can't disprove that." He almost laughed in Brass' face but wisely didn't. Jim sent him back to lock up while he had a report to write and words to have with Grissom and hopefully soon, Catherine.

Jim knew deep in his heart that Catherine was in no way prone to Stockholm Syndrome so what George had said didn't make sense, but try convincing a jury of that, Catherine had to wake up to give her side of the story. The only alternative was to have George charge with every other count apart from the rape, add that later, the other charges would stick and put him behind bars. Brass could reinstate the rape charge when Catherine was better, if she got better.

Catherine hovered on the brink, she may have been in a coma but her thinking processes still functioned to a certain level but it was all internal, she was analyzing the situation inside her head and not making much sense. She saw a brilliant white light and people, some she recognized, one in particular, it was Sam. Now she was confused, Sam was dead wasn't he? Did that mean that she was dead? What about Lindsey? Sam was talking to her.

"You shouldn't be here Catherine, you have to go back, this isn't your time to die and your family and friends need you back badly."

"Sam? It's so quiet and peaceful, I don't feel any pain any more, can't I stay here in the peace and quiet? Going back is a big leap, I don't even know how to."

"You think you might be happy here Muggs, but Lindsey needs you, you will find no happiness here, your pathway to happiness will lead you through the pain but you have to want to go, so think happy thoughts and go back where you are needed most. I can't tell you how to go back, you have to want to go back while there is still time."

"I just want to stay for a while, the pain is too great, but Lindsey's pain will be greater, is that what you mean Sam?"

"Muggs, you are my daughter without a doubt, and just as stubborn as myself, don't let the villains win this round, I'll see you in due time, now go back."

The frantic noises and pain echoed all around her once more as the doctors yelled 'clear' once more and shocked her heart back to life. "Ok she's in sinus rhythm again, keep tabs on her, don't leave her for one minute."

She tried to reach out and found all movement restricted so she moaned through the ventilator tube. It got a nurse's attention.

"Doctor, Ms Willows is waking up and wants to talk."

**A/N Pity they didn't shoot George first eh? Seems like the road just got bumpier but Catherine has been given a good talking to by Sam and will face the world again.**

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	14. Chapter 14

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Hope you had a great festive season and have a safe new year. I worked out that I have impeccable timing, we were moving furniture and a caught a falling wardrobe (yeah I know sounds bizarre), and have to have surgery to repair torn tendons in my shoulder. (Am I stupid? Yes indeed.)**

**Looks like the long road back just got bumpier for Catherine.**

Chapter 14

"Ms Willows, I'm Dr Prescott, be patient for a bit, you have a breathing tube down your throat, bear with me and I'll remove it, just don't try to talk yet."

Catherine frowned her displeasure, frustrated at the no communication response but true to form, Doctor Prescott removed the offending tube and slid a small amount of water into her parched, sore throat. "Glad to have you back with us Ms Willows, we were very worried about you for a while, almost lost you again."

Catherine stared at the doctor dumbfounded unsure what to say, where to begin asking questions, it was like a large chunk of her life was missing when it wasn't that long at all. "How long have I been in hospital?" '_Great question Catherine, easy one first off, since you really don't know.'_

"Ms Willows, Catherine, you've been in a coma for a week, I know that sounds hard to hear but it has actually done you good, your systems have been repairing themselves quite quickly due to the coma, a lot of the bruising has minimized now but you'll still need bed rest in hospital for at least another 3 weeks.

"To be honest doctor, everything hurts, and my memory is decidedly fuzzy."

"I'll bring Mr Grissom in to refresh your memory, and don't worry, temporary fuzziness as you put it is perfectly natural after a traumatic event like yours."

She was puzzled slightly by his words, but relieved when Grissom walked in with a file.

"This is the entire case file Cath, I won't show it to you unless you think you are really ready to see it, but the good doctor seems to think you can handle just about anything now."

"Gil, I've been in coma for a week, not dead, well yeah ok dead a bit too, but I'm not that fragile, I can tell by all this 'gift wrapping' I'm wearing that something bad happened to me, and I remember everything up until the car accident. Oh my god, Gil what about Nick?"

"Nick is fine, thanks to a few good Samaritans and EMTs."

"These photographs Gil, I recognize some of them, the rest I haven't seen until now."

Catherine looked at them, some of Sara's injuries, Sofia's injuries, Nick's injuries and then her own, her face blanched as her eyes took it all in, they weren't injuries, they were torture marks.

"Gil, you mean this was how you found me? And I survived this carnage? I don't even look like me in this picture, I remember the trio, did they all do this?"

"Two women did all that damage, both are deceased, taken out by the SWAT team, the other suspect is a man, he's currently in custody awaiting trial, don't worry Cath you'll be fine soon."

She turned another page and saw the suspect's face, accompanied by the two death masks of the females. She suddenly recalled the time in question in vivid clarity, the pain, the blood, and with a shudder she recalled her own violent rape.

She lay in bed shivering, deciding the fuzziness had been better than total recall. Gil eased himself out of the room and sent the doctor back in and administered a light sedative to ease her shivering and help her relax.

"Ok Catherine, Lindsey wants to come in and see her mother if that's alright by you."

"Yes please doctor she would be a huge comfort right about now."

Lindsey came in and saw a smile on her mother's face, but always the alert teenager, she saw the sadness in her mother's eyes.

"Lindsey honey, what can I say, I am so glad to see you, and yes I've missed you so much."

"Mom you have nothing to worry about, stop looking sad, there is nothing to be sad about, look at this as a new beginning. I do. This is all about putting the past behind us and reconnecting with friends and family, especially having my mother to myself for a few weeks, over summer too."

Lindsey and Catherine just hugged each other for a while, both shedding tears of joy at the eventual reunion, the hugs had to stop however due to Catherine's injuries but she didn't seem to mind a little pain.

"Everything's going to be just fine mom, grandma says she'll stay with us when you get home and we'll help with everything, Sara and Uncle Grissom said they'd help too with shopping and cooking and other stuff so we can rest. We have the schedule all worked out for your home care and therapy."

"Do I have any say in anything in my own house young lady?"

"Nope sorry mom, you are the patient, and your house is temporarily your hospital, but look at it this way, at least you'll get room service and better food."

**TWO WEEKS LATER**

It seemed that to Catherine life was going to be serene for a while, the boys had brought her bed downstairs into the back living area so that she wouldn't have to worry about stairs, the spare bathroom was filled with all of her upstairs accoutrements and when she arrived at her house after leaving the hospital she was amazed at the transformation, everything had been made wheel chair friendly, even a ramp up into her house. Grissom stopped by the next day to get onto a serious topic.

"Jim wants you to come into the station and give a statement, if you are ready for it and I'm afraid it's very important, but not urgent."

"Sure Gil, just to put all of this behind me, I guess I knew this would all happen sooner or later, I'm assuming there will be a trial and I'll be needed to testify."

"Only for the rape part, everything else is taken care of, but he denies he raped you." Grissom bit his tongue as soon as the words slipped out

"Sorry Cath, he's currently being charged with several counts of murder and assorted other things, but for some odd reason he denies the rape, and with him pleading guilty to all those charges, the jury will find it hard to not believe him in this."

"Gil I know how to make a jury believe me instead, I'll do it, and I'll win, I do have one question to ask first though, and no I don't want to see anything, but did anyone take scene pictures before the medics came in?"

"Yes SWAT team took some, I'll get them sent over for the evidence file, also the team member Johnson, she was there and stayed with you, she'll be important, I'll have her come over as well."

"I'd like that, and to meet my savior."

**A/N Guess this will have to go to trial, and no way to work out who will win the rape case.**

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	15. Chapter 15

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Ok second last chapter of this story, we now get to the nitty gritty of court case time.**

**Am I just talking to myself or what?**

Chapter 15

Catherine, although she was still in a wheelchair, was all business, working on her own case for the trial, assembling remnants, piecing things back together, and finally meeting Claire Johnson. To be truthful, she wasn't 'working' her own case, all of that was done, what she was really doing was re evaluating in her mind what the DA had briefed her about and for that he'd allowed her access to the file for familiarization, but leaving out certain parts that she'd have to fill in from her own mind.

Meeting SWAT member Claire Johnson was an interesting occurrence to say the least, the young officer looked a bit like a runway model, not the sort of person who would wield an M16 with laser sight, brown hair, blue eyes and 5ft 10 she guessed. A very imposing person with that height, even more so in uniform she presumed. Her personality however was bubbly and quite charming, with a great sense of humour. Catherine liked her immediately, and would have stood up and given her a huge hug if not still confined to a wheelchair and her left arm in a cast.

"Nice to finally meet you Claire, if I may call you that?"

"It's my name ma'am, by all means do, I'm just glad to see you sort of up and around, you didn't look so good last time we met."

"First things first Claire, call me Catherine, that's my name, none of this ma'am stuff, I'm not your superior ok? Now would you like a drink? I have my own personal servants now." She indicated Lindsey and Lily and laughed a bit, breaking the obvious tension.

"Coffee would be nice thank you ma'….Catherine. I understand you wished to see me and this SWAT file?"

"Yes Claire, the DA suggested I review all information before this case goes to trial, and I have a question or two to ask you, as well as giving you my heartfelt thanks."

"No thanks necessary Catherine, I was just doing my job, taking out those two was actually a pleasure for the team."

"I understand you shot one of them, then remained behind with me until the EMT's arrived is that right?"

"Yes ma'am, er Catherine, I was the only female squad member and the men kind of turned their heads away, and I was your babysitter so to speak. As I said before, you didn't look too good, and the squad members are all real gentlemen in that regard, so I held your hand and talked to you for a while until they could get that sword out of your shoulder, safely."

"These photographs Claire, has the DA seen them?"

"Yes he has, that's why they are here, they are being reproduced for the jury, judge and defence attorney. I would sooner destroy them, they definitely don't show your good side." Claire lightened the mood considerably with her quiet comment and laugh.

"In a way it is good Claire, because the male suspect denies the rape charge, I will have to prove it, these pictures will help a lot and Claire, would you mind being an after the fact witness for the DA?"

"Ahead of you already, the DA approached me and I've said yes, if it weren't for the fact these other two were already dead, I'd shoot them again, they had it easy, too quick and too clean. They deserved something slow and painful."

Lindsey came into the room with coffees all round, and abruptly stopped upon spying the photographs of her mother, she dropped the coffee cups and ran out of the room.

"Oh hell, she saw them, no child should ever see their mother like this Catherine, I'm sorry, I have an idea though, one minute."

Claire ran out after Lindsey and caught her sobbing in her room.

"Lindsey? You don't know me really, but my name is Claire Johnson, I'm with SWAT, sorry you saw those pictures, even I find them disturbing but they are what is going to help your mom prove her case against this sick and twisted man. It's never easy, even in my line of work, you take your gun, go out on assignment always knowing that probably you'll have to kill someone. In this instance I had to, because we did our job and your mom is alive. I heard you played your part as well, because of that as well, she is alive, we knew where to go, it's never easy to see those things, but it's more important to remember that your mom is downstairs, in a wheelchair, surrounded by broken coffee cups, unable to comfort you."

"Long speech Claire, it's just, well it was so sudden, it was a shock."

"I know, the first time is never easy, seeing a crime scene, shooting someone, even seeing photographs like that, but you took it very well."

"Very well? I dropped everything and ran away!"

"Did you throw up? Did you scream? Did you faint? No you just ran out of the room to where you knew you'd be safe and cried. That's taking it very well. The first time I ever killed someone I was throwing up for days. You can be a great shot on the target range, but killing another person is so different." She lied but not by much, she had thrown up once.

"Seriously? You threw up? Wow, guess I'd better go and clean up and make more coffee huh? Could you just make sure those pictures aren't on display for grandma and me?"

"Sure Lindsey, take your time, but give your mom a hug when you come down."

Claire went back to Catherine and talked some more, put the file away and Lindsey cleaned up the mess and everyone sat down to fresh cups of coffee and talked about everything except the case, it was solved and Catherine had her answers and knew where to go now. The trial was going ahead, including the rape charge. It was in two weeks.

**TWO WEEKS LATER AGAIN**

"All rise, the court is now in session, the People vs George Ross, multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, attempted murder and rape. How does the defendant plead?"

"Not Guilty your honor."

"Very well," Judge Rawlston indicated to the DA," you may proceed."

The DA went on describing all the charges, the evidence the prosecution had, the witnesses lined up and called for the first lot of evidence, from the first house. Catherine had been lead on that and this could be tricky.

Catherine was called to the stand, complete with wheel chair, and given the evidence notes to read from and was almost about to begin when the defence attorney shouted his objection.

"Reason for objection please Mr Calvin?" asked the Judge.

"CSI Willows is a witness for the prosecution in another matter pertaining to this trial your honor."

"Does her being a witness in another matter have anything to do with this evidence?"

"No your honor."

"Objection overruled, please continue CSI Willows."

So far so good, the jury were seeing her, hearing what she was saying, and noting her injuries, theoretically Sara could have presented the evidence, or even Greg, even Grissom but since she was there for all of it, saw all of it and was the lead, it fell to her.

The day dragged for everyone and even when Sara took the stand the defence remained silent apart from one or two questions, especially regarding Sara's abduction. He simply had to ask since his client was being charged with the rape of CSI Willows, why didn't he rape CSI Sidle. Sara thought about it for a while and answered strongly.

**A/N Yup Sara on the stand, so ok, what will Sara actually say? Hope it's nothing dumb like 'he wasn't me type.'**

**I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW To Find Out What Happens Next!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hunters and Collectors**

**Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI**

**A/N Ok last chapter of this story, we now get to the Finale and Outcome of the court case.**

**Chapter 16**

"The defendant didn't rape me, probably because I'd already been shot and all three of them were simply looking for escape route, and maybe I wasn't his type, I found that out when he expressed his desire for and I quote "the pretty blonde CSI", what he did was bad enough, I was lucky to survive due to the diligence of my colleagues, he left me there to die, him specifically, it was his idea to put me in a small trunk and lock it, thankfully I never used to keep it locked and a close colleague knew that."

"Thank you CSI Sidle, that will be all."

Finally the DA had come to the end of each charge except for the rape, and now it was adjourned until the morning, one last time for the DA to brief Catherine, hopefully there would be no surprises and CSI Willows was a strong person, and Claire Johnson would testify as well.

That night Catherine lay awake in bed, hating the thought of court in the morning, her body still hurt in places, the casts were due off in a week, then physical therapy would begin, she had been unable to do most things while her ribs healed and having only one good limb meant she was useless, but her mind was sharp now, she'd been reading a lot, past rape histories, online rape case files and various reasons why the perp was acquitted, not this time, she was prepared now. She dozed off with a thought in her mind. "Bring it on!"

The morning dawned bright and sunny as it does in a Vegas summer, all her colleagues were in court for support, even Nick. Everyone looked fit and healthy, which was very reassuring to her, the support made her more determined to win this battle and the DA was equally determined.

She took the stand and was told she was still under oath then the DA began his questions, they seemed easy enough, and she had to recount the events of that traumatic events, leaving out no details, she told the story almost clinically, detached and without any reservation, not even for her feelings when inside she was crying, she never showed it.

The defence attorney started his cross examination and some of the questions stung, especially bringing up her past as a dancer and stripper.

"What I did before I became a CSI has no relevance to this case, but since you were asking so nicely, I was a dancer and made a living out of it to support my child in addition to my husband at the time, who is now deceased. I then went and studied and worked hard to get my current position, if you don't believe me you can ask any of my co workers."

"Mr Ross denies he raped you, even to the point where he said you found him attractive and wanted to enjoy the thrill of what he was doing but in order to maintain your reputation, any sex between you would have to been seen to be forced and rough so his colleagues wouldn't get jealous, is this the case?"

"No it most certainly isn't the case."

"So in reality it's your word against his, isn't it?"

"No, not really, have you examined all the evidence against him on this charge?"

"If you mean have I seen the photographs then yes I have, but they don't mean anything."

Catherine was now getting quite hot under the collar now so she did her customary confrontation with him.

"Mean nothing? Do you believe a woman would consent to being taken hostage, by murderers, being bound, gagged and raped nothing?"

"They don't prove you were raped, just that you had rough sex with a man, for all we know you might have enjoyed that type of thing."

"In your fantasies maybe, no Mr Calvin, I do not enjoy that sort of thing, I do not like the defendant, and would never willingly have any relationship with him."

Calvin realized he probably wouldn't win this, then the DA asked for a redirect and had the photographs from SWAT distributed to the jury, judge and defence attorney.

"This was the final result before the medical personnel arrived, the two dead women were Mr Ross' accomplices, please note not the injuries per se, but the bindings and tape, and ask yourself, even if you did like 'rough sex' as Mr Calvin noted, or even into bondage, would you ever tie someone this way for sex? The answer is evident, it would be a very uncomfortable position, even damaging, if it was consensual then why the tape? No ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this was rape, pure and simple, the rape kit performed on CSI Willows showed clearly the damage internally and the defendents DNA was found inside her."

Catherine was given permission to leave the stand, not sure if she succeeded or not, but left the court followed closely by Sara and Sofia. Her resolve broke and she cried torrents and felt sick after all that.

Next up to the stand was Claire Johnson, she gave a heart rending description of the scene as she and her colleagues were first there, and saw CSI Willows before anyone else, Claire herself had removed the tape and rope. She also testified as to the accuracy of the photographs.

The defence counsel was stunned and didn't really know what to ask, this officer was unimpeachable, however she was a woman, and had shot a suspect. He began cautiously.

"Officer Johnson, you were one of the first on scene correct?"

"Yes Sir, along with the squad."

"When you got into the room you shot a suspect, is that correct?"

"Yes Sir, acting under orders."

"When you first saw CSI Willows apart from her other injuries caused by said suspects, did she have any other injuries?"

"Yes Sir, severe bite marks, bleeding ones, and vaginal bleeding."

"I'll remind you Officer Johnson that you are no medical expert, but can you conclusively say that CSI Willows did not enjoy this alleged rape?"

"Yes Sir I can, and although I am not a medical expert, I am an expert in another field, I am a woman, and vaginal bleeding is something women, especially rape victims are very well versed in, also as a woman, an expert in that field, unless you find me unqualified, there is no way any woman would enjoy sex in this manner. Perhaps it might have been possible if tied in a different manner, but then the damage was too great anyway."

The DA was ecstatic with the reply and George Ross looked decidedly uncomfortable now. The defence now had no case, no comeback it was now all up to the jury. Final closing arguments were made and the jury retired, the team and Officer Johnson all went to the diner next door to the court house together and had some much needed food and coffee, any celebrations would come later.

Catherine was silent during most of the meal, answering the odd question here or there, about the weather, current cases, family and other silly off topic stuff. Slowly Catherine unwound and the day seemed brighter yet not closed .

Grissom's phone sounded on his hip. It was the DA informing him that the jury was back and he had 10 minutes to get everyone back so he grabbed and paid the check and everyone hurried back to the court room. They all took their seats, the defendant included and waited for the judge. They all rose when he entered, then all sat once more.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"Yes your honor, we have."

"How do you find the defendant, guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty on all charges your honor."

"Thank you for your assistance, the jury is now dismissed with thanks. Sentencing would normally be carried out at a later date, but since I have been deliberating and it is still very early, my deliberations have been well found. Mr Ross you are hereby sentenced to death, sentence to be carried expeditiously. What's more you are to personally apologize to CSI Willows for the pain and suffering you caused her, and your entire estate shall be put at her disposal. Do you have anything to say on your behalf?"

"No your honor, and I refuse to apologize to CSI Willows, the only thing I do regret is that my girls didn't succeed when I told them to kill her."

He was dragged away in chains, it was over, finally. All that misery, pain and suffering that had been caused, over, case closed.

That night they all went out once more, but this time to really celebrate, the team was nearly whole again, Catherine should be up and around in another two weeks, back at work in four. Jim Brass took Officer Johnson under his wing and suggested that if she wanted another duty, like in homicide, it was hers for the asking. She declined as she enjoyed SWAT, but perhaps later she might take him up on it.

Life for CSI returned to normal, the graveyard shift, the inevitable assignments, and of course the secret dance of Sara and Grissom, the best kept secret 'never' told, at least not yet. Catherine found that the estate of Mr George Ross was quite considerable and after using part of it to compensate the victims of his crimes, donated the rest to a rape victim support charity.

Life and crime continued in Las Vegas and Catherine finally returned to work after a lot of physiotherapy and hard work, everyone at LVPD stayed more diligent in looking after the CSIs, vowing that this would never happen again. But as we all know, it would, and why? Hey this is Vegas where anything is possible.

Goodbye and Goodluck folks.

The End


End file.
